#6 of 100 on my 100 Movies I’ve Never Seen Before Challenge (part II)
The original “Men in Black” was a movie that helped put Will Smith on the map of bankable movie stars. It was funny, inspired and original. The chemistry between Smith’s smart ass Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones’ dry Agent K was spectacular. The sequel, however, was so bad it almost made the first one look bad by association. When I heard they were making a third “MiB” flick ten years after that last crappy money grab, I was less than enthused.
Good news, everyone. “Men in Black 3” is not only a return to form for both Will Smith and the MiB series, but its almost as good as the first one– almost. Obviously, getting Josh Brolin to play a young Agent K is a huge part of the reason this movie is even remotely watchable. He has great chemistry with Smith and the movie is fun, fast paced time travel adventure. Yes, there is some stuff that doesn’t quite click, but the point here is to entertain the audience and that it does.
The plot goes like this, after nearly 15 years of working together, Agents J and K are no closer to getting to know each other and this annoys J to no end. K, though, seems to have his reasons for keeping a safe emotional distance from J, which is what fuels a lot of this movie. After a bad dude named Boris escapes from a lunar prison, he vows to eliminate K from existence. K knows this is coming but refuses to let J in on the development.
So when J suddenly wakes up and K no longer exists, apparently having been killed in 1969, he takes it upon himself to travel back in time, right the wrongs of the past and get his buddy back…and hopefully find out why Tommy Lee Jones is so damn grumpy all the time.
The third time is a charm for this series and a lot of that is owed to the fact there is a credible villain this time around. In “MiB2” we got Laura Flynn Boyle as the villain and she was awful. In fact I can’t think of one thing she has ever been good in. Here we get Jemaine Clement from “Flight of the Conchords”, who plays the truly menacing villain determined to get revenge on K for putting him in prison in 1969.
Check this out.
Read my Examiner review for “Men in Black 3”.